… for reviving an old post that quite truthfully, I’m embarrassed about. Which is, of course, the risk you take when you blog about something (er obsess
over it) and forget to delete it later…
*sigh* Usually when I get a comment from a post that is like ages old, 99% of the time it’s a spam comment. “Mo”’s comment does not appear to be so.
Commenting on the Akon topic…GHaving met the brother I tottally disagree with your point of view….
Well, perhaps if I’d met him, I’d think differently, but all I have to go on is, I guess what some would call the “evil Western Media” (because we all know that’s who’s fault it really is) tells us. That and his interviews/song lyrics, etc., etc., etc. I know that people have a public image and a private one. I’ve often wondered if anyone who really *knew* him, I mean, *really* knew him, not the “yeah I met him once and he was cool” know, I’m talking about the “first thing in the morning” know, the funky ain’t brushed his teeth yet know, the ain’t showered yet know. I mean, the people that *really* know him, if they happened on this blog, would they tell me I’m wrong. I’m not saying that you’re wrong, but “meeting a brother once” ain’t the same as really knowing him, and you’ve got about as much to go on as I do. He still makes raunchy songs, that I can’t play in front of my step daughter, and he’s not a good role model for practicing Muslims to follow, sorry. Perhaps even he knows that which is why he maybe hides his Islam and if that’s the case I can understand that. Perhaps if I “met him once” I’d think differently, perhaps would come here and say, “yeah he’s a nice brother”, but all I have to go on is the “public image”, becuase I just don’t know him like that, not like a friend or family member would.
you are entitled to your opinion
Thank you and I express it freely and often, even if it means putting my foot/feet in my mouth most of the time. My mouth has tended to get me into trouble, but try as I might, my tongue is a weakness I continue to struggle with, may Allah help me in this.
but dont discrimenate another muslim brother or anyone for that matter.
Discriminate? Who said anything about “discriminating”? *Rubs head* *Confused* Not to mention the fact that you mis-spelled the word, do you even know what “discriminate” actually means? I didn’t know that offensive lyrics and conduct by a supposed “proud Muslim” (more on that later) was “discrimination”. Must have missed that in the dictionary or our US civil rights law. Best be careful lest a discrimination lawsuit falls in my lap. But I’d think a blind Muslim woman would know something more about discrimination, or at least the real definition/incidence of it, having actually faced it myself, than someone who wrote the grand ode to women everywhere “I Wanna Love You”, (expletive changed so as not to offend). I’m not saying Akon’s not faced discrimination, what I’m saying is that by me pointing out certain things, that is not “discriminating”.
Akon is a Proud mslim”
I’ll take your word for it, as you’ve supposedly “met the brother”, and Allah knows best, so being that it’s Ramadan, perhaps he’s a proud Muslim, but why do you only hear of it publicly when he’s talking about, uh, er, “polygamy”? Did we see any beautiful newspaper articles about “Akon’s commitment to his religion” as you tend to see with famous Muslims this time of year? I’m being serious, because if there is one, I’d like to see it. Perhaps if you submit pics of Akon having iftar, or something, I’d post them. But how would you know, if having only met the brother once, whether or not he is a “proud Muslim”, and “proud Muslims” aren’t necessarily striving to be good Muslims. Just ask Faheem Rasheed Najm. I do’t want to question anyone’s Islam, but when reading articles, detailing “who is Muslim and who is not”, I think it’s OK to say that perhaps people who are Muslim in the industry may not be the best role models regarding the practice of Islam. The lyrics of some purportedly Muslim artists are just on example of this. However, this doesn’t take away from the fact that they are struggling, heck, I’m struggling.
yet you only see the fault in him,
Yeah, perhaps you’re right (unless you actually read my blog, which maybe you only stumbled on this one article), but if you’d actually read my blog, you’d see that perhaps I’ve got differing degrees of dislike, or admiration, or regret, or whatever the case, depending on how I’m feeling, or how many times I’ve listened to “Mama Africa”, you did read where I said that song would almost cause me to forgive him of his, well, “faults”, didn’t you? But I guess not, ’cause you choose to go diggin’ in the blog crates, pull out this one post and hand-slap me (’cause you supposedly have met / know this brother) and command me to “not discriminate” or otherwise correct my post. I’m sure there is a lot of good in him, I just don’t know enough to write about it. And unfortunately, it’s the bad that sticks out.
Take a look around your muslim neibhorhood
Mr. Mo, I don’t know what kind of “neighborhood” you live in, or how things are there in Australia where you live, but here in the US, we generally don’t have “Muslim neighborhoods”. I could find a lot of fault in any neighborhood I chose to take a look at… Muslim or not…
and search for fault im sure you will find more than Akon.
Actually, to be honest, I’d rather search for fault in my own self and try to correct that. And I’m working on it, I really am… Search for Akon using the search feature on my blog, if you are so inclined, and you’ll see my angst (embarrassing though it may be) on this issue.
and being of Lebanese African descent and living in Australia it is not easy growing up in Western Culture and not doing the rong thing.
Yes, I’m a Muslim convert and I can relate to you on that… But does it make it right? That is what I wanna know… I can listen to Lupe Fiasco (another commercially successful Muslim artist, though not as much as Akon), and everyone knows he’s Muslim, and by all acounts, a fairly observant one at that. He’s probably not perfect, and I’m sure if I wanted to find fault, I could, but I won’t. But this all started first, when I had a sister-in-law who loved Akon’s music, and “I Wanna Love You” came out, and that was just too much for me! That and the whole public “polygamy” bruhaha. But perhaps being a “proud Muslim” doesn’t sell as many records. It’s not easy being a Muslim in the West, but in this world, it’s not easy being a Muslim anywhere, unless, of course, you live on a mountain somewhere with no TV, no Internet, no media, and no distractions. I’ve not met a lot of “famous people” but I can safely say that meeting people isn’t the same as actually knowing them, and saying you’re a proud Muslim, African, blind person, dog lover, etc., doesn’t a proud whatever make! Akon’s lyrics offend me, I’m sorry if that offends you! I wish he’d put out more positive fare. Because he’s on the list of artists that I won’t let my stepdaughter listen to, “bust it baby” was bad enough! And if it’s so “hard for Muslims” out here in the West, why should Akon put out music that would make it harder for us trying to raise pious Muslim children?
“Proud Muslim” whatever! Perhaps he is, perhaps he’s struggling just like the rest of us! And May Allah have mercy on him, May his Ramadan be a blessed and happy one! But I still don’t like his lyrics! Sorry!
And I wish his conduct/lyrics would be more becoming of a “proud Muslim” or what we think a “proud Muslim” should be. Perhaps if I actually *knew* Akon, I’d think differently, or perhaps I’d ask him “why do you write/producer/sing this awful stuff”? But I’ll never get that chance. I’m sure Akon is a “nice person” and all of that, and I’m sure that in 1, 2 or 5 years from now, I’ll come back and read all of this and shudder in horror at my silliness, pettiness, obsessiveness, etc., and in the last ten days of Ramadan no less. And I’ll wish I’d not said any of this. Perhaps he’s doing something that would increase his rank even above me on Yaum-al-qiyama, and I’m sittin’ here thinking I’m all better than him because, well, just because “I’m not like him”. He could be making dhikr, reading Qur’an, etc., for all I know, and what am I doing? Talking about him… Allahu Akbar! I’m just sayin’. You could be wright Mo, you really could be. But I don’t choose to look for others’ faults, thank you very much. I’m too busy with my own, one of them being focusing on certain things that just plain get under my skin! And perhaps “Muslims in the industry” get put up on pedestals so that “normal everyday Muslims” like myself and sit here and knock them down. nothing I hate worse than being told what to say, what to think, on my own blog.
I guess it’s also a bit hypocritical to say that I’m too busy focusing on my own faults, yet I’ve just wasted time on this and other post, detailing the seeming faults of another person. I’m not perfect, and perhaps if I want people to understand that in me and give me the benefit of the doubt, then I should do the same for Akon, T-Pain and others. However, it’s a little hard to do thta when you have purported Muslims, who you’d think would no better, putting out songs like “I’m In Love with a Stripper” or “Bartender” or “I Wanna Love You”, etc. That is what makes it so glaring to me, so obvious, so hard to ignore. Perhaps it’s the difference between a public struggle, i.e., putting out music, and a private struggle, i.e. trying not to listen to said music. And it frustrates me that I could hear a T-Pain or Akon song, know it’s just so entirely wrong on so many levels, whether Muslim or not, and feel myself wanting to bob my head or sing along or, worse, dance to it or turn it up! I’m just being honest!
Perhaps because their struggles, public or not, tie in so much with my own, is why they bother me so, maybe that’s it. Maybe if I had them to my house for an iftar, or over for tea / ataya, we could have a discussion, one Muslim to another, as struggling people on the Sirat al-Mustaqeen, where I could say, do you understand, oh Muslim brothers, how your words, actions, lyrics, songs, hurt and offend me as your Muslim sister. And how it makes it harder for me to raise pious Muslim children, or how it makes it hard as a Muslim to avoid the haram and seek the good?
I’m sure T-Pain and Akon are perfectly nice brothers, minus the offending songs, perhaps they’d respect me as a hijabi Muslim woman. Allah alone knows best. I wish them both the best in this life and in the next. I wish them a belated Ramadan and an Eid Mubarak in advance.
And the same to all of my loyal readers who’ve made it this far through my latest diatribe. You guys are wonderful, the commenters and the lurkers. Thanks for reading and continue to enjoy, Inshallah.
